Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fresh Anchovies in Salsa Verde

I'm one of these strange people that absolutely love anchovies - well I should include a proviso that I love good quality anchovies as not all canned varieties are equal. I can happily devour these without a second thought.

So it's no surprise that I was physically and not just literally stopped in my tracks when I spied these fresh local anchovies at the fishmonger.

I've only ever seen them once before and I regret not buying them so this time I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by. So before you could say anchovy, they were in my possession and I was heading home a very happy camper.

Now, the fun begins, what should I do with them? Since preparing them is a bit of a fiddle, the recipe needed to be simple and the solution was to marinade them in a flavoursome salsa verde. The end product just perfect as a topping for bruschetta.

There's no two ways about it - it's going to be a bit bloody and a bit messy but if you do it in a systematic matter it isn't that difficult.

You take an anchovy and using a knife cut straight through just in from the head, near the gill. As you drag the head away, you should find that the internals come out with it. *I tend to do all the heads first before continuing with the process*

Slice cleanly along the underside to butterfly the anchovy - you can brush away any remaining internals at this stage. Find the end of the severed spine and gently pull this away from the flesh, when you reach the tail a firm tug should see it completely separate.

There are recipes where the spine is used - it's simply cleaned and dried very well before being deep fried. It's eaten as a snack with drinks.

Once you have all the fillets cleaned, give them a very light rinse in cold water and place them on paper towels to dry.

Make the salsa verde:

This is really just something you make to suit your own taste so use this only as a guide.

I place a couple of good handfuls of fresh parsley leaves into a processor along with two cloves of garlic and process until roughly chopped. Add in a tablespoon of capers, a couple of diced cornichons and the zest of half a lemon and process until finely chopped, drizzle in good olive oil and continue to process until a thick paste forms. Taste and add salt and pepper.

Assemble the dish:

Take a ceramic dish that is large enough to hold the anchovies in layers. Spread some of the salsa verde on the bottom of the dish and arrange the anchovies on top, skin side down. Don't be tempted to place the anchovies too close together, a sparse covering is best. Cover this with some more of the salsa and continue with another layer of anchovies. Keep repeating this process until all the anchovies have been used and are completely buried under the salsa verde.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

To serve:

Take a spoonful of the mixture and place into a bowl - squeeze over with a little fresh lemon juice and stir to combine. Let this sit for a few minutes before placing on a slice on toasted ciabatta.

Lovely photos. I cook fresh once by first pickling in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, chopped fresh chillies and grated garlic. Then I toss in flour/breadcrumbs and fry in a little bit of oil. With fresh french bread....amazing